So This is How it Ends
by shimmerdragoness
Summary: Nearly seventy years have passed since Pharaoh Atem passed into the afterlife, and now Seto Kaiba finds himself at death's door. It's not quite what he expects.


So this is how it would end. Not in the spotlight, not surrounded by adoring fans, not in the eyes of the world. The great Seto Kaiba would simply breathe his last alone in his room, in his bed. He didn't know whether the thought made him feel like laughing or crying. Even Mokuba wasn't there. His brother had picked a fine night to take his wife out to eat. Seto wasn't exactly sure how he knew today would be his last, but there was no doubt in his mind that he wouldn't be seeing another sunrise. He smirked cynically into the darkness. He couldn't even call Yugi; he had long outlived his old rival. Not that he _wanted _to call Yugi. Maybe it was better this way. He, who had always stood alone in life, could now go alone into death.

A familiar, bitter feeling crept up his throat. If only…_he _hadn't betrayed him. As was his wont he shied away from the thought, but as usual it came back with a vengeance, swirling through his mind like a maelstrom. Why did it still bother him, when it was clearly ancient history? He rolled over in bed. Why did he keep thinking about _him, _the idiot who had let him down all those years ago? He resolutely shoved the thought away and closed his eyes to wait patiently for the end.

_Kaiba. _His eyes flew open again, and despite his advanced age he shot upright in the bed.

"Who's there?" he shouted into the darkness. Nothing but absolute silence answered him. His heart beat loudly in his ears, so loudly that he couldn't hear anything else. Had he imagined that voice? Maybe he had gone senile, despite his firm belief to the contrary. He slowly began to lay himself back down.

_Kaiba. _That was no hallucination. Definitely not.

„Blast it, show yourself already!" he shouted, upright once more and trembling slightly. It couldn't be Mokuba, his little brother would never call him simply 'Kaiba'. But what kind of an intruder could make it all the way to his private chambers? A painfully bright light suddenly poured out of the opposite wall, as if someone had just opened a large door. Kaiba threw an arm up in front of his face and narrowed his eyes against the glare. "What's going on here?" he growled. "Who's there?" Couldn't one even die in peace? Was that too much to ask?

"Kaiba." Ah. So it was an intruder. "Kaiba, I challenge you to a duel." The voice was quiet and soft and didn't sound challenging at all. It took Kaiba a moment to regain enough composure to attempt an answer.

"Really?" He hoped he didn't sound quite as rattled as he felt. "Don't you know that I haven't played Duel Monsters for five years now?" he said at last, a touch sourly. He could just make out the silhouette of a figure in the overwhelming stream of light. "I'm simply too old for it. Besides, there's no opponent worthy of my talent anymore." The last was said with a hint of bitterness. "I'm through with Duel Monsters."

"Is that why you fall sleep every night with your Deck on the table beside your pillow?" the nameless figure asked, so quietly that Kaiba's failing hearing almost didn't catch it. His breath caught in his throat as his gaze dropped involuntarily to the Deck that as a matter of fact _was_ beside his bed. How often had he wanted to put it away? How often had he actually shoved it into a drawer, only to fish it out a few minutes later? How often had _his _face crossed in mind in that moment?

"Old habits die hard," Kaiba muttered at last. The silhouette laughed quietly.

"Can't argue there," it said, more to itself than to Kaiba. There was a long pause.

"Who are you?" Kaiba finally asked, the indignation having leeched completely out of his voice.

"If you'll duel me, then I'll tell you," the silhouette answered. Kaiba felt a strange feeling twist through his gut. That voice...could it be...? No. It was impossible. Not here. Not now. His hand closed around his deck almost against his will.

"Fine, as you wish. Let's get this over with so I can finally rest in peace." The silhouette laughed again, a very mysterious laugh that said this person knew far more then he was telling.

"All right. Good plan, Seto Kaiba. I couldn't have said it better myself."

"To begin I summon the Dark Clown Saggi!" Kaiba said. Because of his age he wasn't quite standing upright, instead choosing to sit on the edge of the bed. Nevertheless, his voice still rang clearly and confidently through the room. He felt the old fire stir in his blood, the fire that he believed forever extinguished.

"Good start. I open with the Verrückten Kobold and place one card face down. With that, I end my turn." Kaiba hesitated a moment.

"I attack with the Dark Clown," he said at last.

"You've just activated my trap," the silhouette answered, a smile in its voice. "Die Macht des Spiegels!" The strange feeling from before intensified. "You've just taken out your own monster, since the mirror reflects its attack right back at it."

"I'm well aware," Kaiba growled. "I've seen it often enough." A suspicion began to hover at the edge of his consciousness. "All right, I also place a card face down and end my turn." There was a long pause. "Your move."

"I know. I sacrifice my Verrückten Kobold and use it to summon the Dark Magician!" Kaiba's suspicions were instantly confirmed as the tall, purple-robed figure suddenly appeared in his room.

"Yugi!" he shouted. "No—Atem. Atem, it's you, isn't it? Show yourself, coward! I know who you are!" The light behind the silhouette suddenly dimmed to the point where the silhouette resolved itself into an actual person. Of course it was Atem, and he was smiling warmly.

"That took you long enough, you blockhead." Kaiba's mouth fell open as though he wanted to reply, but no sound came out. His vision blurred. How…how could this be? This was impossible! Atem was… he was…

"You're dead," Kaiba whispered at last. "I was there when you walked through the door into the afterlife! How can you have come back? Atem…I…" His voice failed, but he simply _had _to get this out. He had been hoping for such an opportunity for almost seven decades now. Atem gazed back at him serenely, a soft smile around his lips. "I've missed you!" The sentence came out too loudly, crashing through the room like a pistol shot. "Why do you think I gave up Duel Monsters? I couldn't keep playing knowing that I'd never again have the chance to challenge you. You were my only chance at having a real friend and you abandoned me. Why—why didn't you take me with you?" One could almost hear the sound of a heart breaking. "You left me just when I needed you! You confused me; you showed me that my life was on the wrong track—and then you simply left me, stripped of my pride, my confidence, my security. I haven't been able to forgive you even after all these years. It's been eating away at me like a tumor. And now you have to gall to come back?" His voice wavered and he fell silent, surprised at his own candor.

"Kaiba," Atem said into the silence, "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to do that to you, I swear. I wanted to be there to help you. I wanted to be your friend, but I didn't have a choice, my time had come. Believe me, I would have much rather stayed with you, but it was impossible. I've missed you too, you know. We were friends, after all." He suddenly smirked. "I think it's your turn." Kaiba took a deep breath. Finally, an opportunity to best the Pharaoh had come. Oh, how long had he yearned for such an opportunity!

The fight was long and hard, since both players threw themselves into the combat, heart and soul. Kaiba couldn't remember the last time he had competed in such a satisfying duel. He gave the game his all, and it only seemed like mere moments until the deciding card fell. He glanced up at Atem, his eyes burning victoriously.

"I activate Fusion to combine my three Blue Eyes dragons. I do believe that takes care of you, my dear Pharaoh." There was a loud bang, and the rest of Atem's life points dissolved away. Kaiba leaned back and laughed aloud. "Finally. I finally managed to beat you at your own game. Took long enough." He sat upright again and fell silent. "Now I can die in peace," he said gravely. There was a moment of heavy silence, and then Atem suddenly laughed, loudly and brightly. Kaiba gazed at him in astonishment.

"You wish, don't you, friend mine?" Atem said, wiping tears from his eyes. "Come on, Kaiba. Why do you think I'm even here? Just to reminisce and stir up old memories?" Kaiba stared at him in wonder.

"What…what do you mean?"

"Idiot. You're supposed to be a genius. Kaiba, I had to duel you so that you could prove yourself worthy."

"Worthy? For what?" Atem gestured to the light behind him, which was increasing in intensity again. Kaiba felt his throat go dry. "No. No way. You're kidding." Atem's cheeky smirk softened into a genuine smile.

"Kaiba, old friend. Did you really think that I would let you die alone?" He reached out a hand. "I've waited a long time for you." Kaiba felt like he had just been bowled over by a truck. He slowly rose to his feet and began to step just as slowly in Atem's direction. It felt as though all the years that had passed peeled back and fell away from him. When he finally stood beside Atem, he felt—and looked—like the student that had stood in the tomb in Egypt all those decades ago, silently watching Atem's departure. He took Atem's outstretched hand, feeling better then he had in a long, long while.

"Now what?" he asked quietly. Atem laughed.

"Now you come home with me. To _our _home." Kaiba glanced back for a moment.

"What about Mokuba? He's going to find an empty room when he gets home. What's he going to think about that?" Atem laughed again.

"No worries, old rival. His time will come someday as well, and when it does we can both come to get him." Atem gazed at Kaiba for a long moment. "I've really missed you, Seto." He turned abruptly on his heel and disappeared into the light. Kaiba followed close behind him without looking back again. His heart felt full to bursting. An emptiness he hadn't realized was there had suddenly filled.

"Kaiba!" Kaiba spun sharply around, momentarily distracted from the gorgeous vista in front of him.

"You've got to be kidding me. He's here, too?" Atem grinned and nodded. Yugi stopped short, almost crashing into the two of them. He wasn't alone. Tèa, whom he had married (Kaiba had gone to their wedding despite his reservations), Joey and his wife Mai, Joey's sister Serenity, Duke Devlin, Tristan, Bakura, and many others were following behind him. Atem gazed up at Kaiba's bewildered face with amusement.

"You just had to go and outlive all of us, didn't you Seto? Stubborn old geezer." Kaiba shot him a look and sighed.

"Don't tell me I'm going to have to spend all of eternity with these bozos." He didn't quite sound as rebuffing as usual, though. He felt inexplicable warmth spreading in his heart. He had always been firmly convinced that he enjoyed his solitary life, even as his old acquaintances had one by one left this life for the next. He suddenly realized that he had been lying to himself all that time. He had actually missed these idiots. He glanced over at Atem. "Can we still duel in the afterlife?" Atem blinked back at him in surprise before suddenly laughing again. Had he ever laughed so much?

"You would ask that. Of course we can." Kaiba looked back over at Yugi, his hand going to the deck in his pocket that had somehow made the journey into the afterlife with him.

"All right, Yugi, I just beat your 'other me'. Now it's your turn. I challenge you to a duel!" Yugi stared at him in astonishment for a moment before suddenly grinning so broadly that his face looked to be in danger of splitting in half.

"Sure, Kaiba! Oh…welcome home, by the way!"

So this is how it would end. Mokuba couldn't explain how he knew that tonight would be his last. He actually welcomed death; the last years without his older brother had been long and lonely. He had never known for certain what had happened to his brother, but he had his suspicions. He rolled over in bed. A bright light in which one could just make out the silhouettes of two figures suddenly streamed out of the wall across from him.

_Fin_


End file.
